


Nothing But The Truth

by deathmarkedlove_archivist



Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2007-01-29
Updated: 2007-01-29
Packaged: 2018-11-22 10:01:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 13,087
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11377896
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/deathmarkedlove_archivist/pseuds/deathmarkedlove_archivist
Summary: What happens after Buffy takes away Spike's invitation?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Note from Hils, the archivist: this story was originally archived at [Death-Marked Love](http://fanlore.org/wiki/Death-Marked_Love). To preserve the archive, I began manually importing its works to the AO3 as an Open Doors-approved project in June 2017. I e-mailed all creators about the move and posted announcements, but may not have reached everyone. If you are (or know) this creator, please contact me using the e-mail address on [the Death-Marked Love collection profile](http://archiveofourown.org/collections/deathmarkedlove/profile).

With a smug smile, Buffy closed the door in Spike's face.

When she turned around, she almost ran into Dawn standing behind her. "That was SO MEAN! Why did you do that?"

"Dawn, you don't understand...."

"You're right - I DON'T understand." The younger girl continued as Joyce and Willow walked towards them. "How could you treat Spike that way? Especially after the things he's done for us!"

"Like what things, Dawn?" Willow asked.

"When I snuck out and went to the magic shop, Spike went with me to protect me. He said that I'd be better off with the 'Big Bad' walking with me. And the other day Buffy took me and Mom to his crypt, and asked him to protect us. He helped Buffy kill that Thing that attacked Mom. He proved that Tara wasn't a demon. And he was fighting WITH Buffy AGAINST Glory at the hospital...." Dawn appeared to be able to go on forever in this vein.

Joyce tried to reason with her youngest daughter. "But, honey, Spike IS a killer."

"It didn't seem to bother you earlier, Mom, when Spike was hanging out with us in the kitchen. Every time he comes over, you offer him hot chocolate, with those little marshmallows he likes, 'cause you know it's his favorite."

"But Dawn..."

"And he hasn't killed anyone since he got the chip in his head, has he?"

"That's not the point, Dawn!"

"Then what is the point, oh great Slayer? And by the way, if he's THAT bad, why haven't you staked him by now?" Dawn turned and stalked off to her room while Buffy was still trying to sputter out an answer.

Up to now, Willow had simply listened. It WAS strange, the way Buffy had been reacting to Spike. "Buffy, I think that Dawn has a point. Spike's had an open invitation to your house for a long time. If he's that bad, why hasn't he tried to kill you?"

"The chip, Willow? Hurt someone, instant headache? Remember? And the last time that he DIDN'T have the chip, he kidnaped you and Xander."

"Yeah, OK, kidnaped, 'cause he wanted me to do that love spell to get Drusilla back for him. But...he didn't really hurt me. He was gonna bite me, then I said Absolutely NOT... and he backed down. He hurt Xander - but Xander attacked him first. And... and then when he got the chip and tried to bite me.... he was real nice about it when he couldn't. OK, that doesn't sound right. But..."

Joyce looked puzzled. "Love spell? Buffy, was that the time that I was talking to Spike about Drusilla leaving him, and you burst in and attacked him?"

"That's the one, Mom."

"Did he have the chip in his head then?"

"Well...no, I guess not," the Slayer admitted.

"Well, then I don't understand - Spike was being a perfect gentleman until you and Angel appeared. He didn't act much differently then than he does now. And you have to admit, Buffy, that Spike usually IS a perfect gentleman when he comes over. And he's quite knowledgeable about art and antiques. He's never once threatened me or Dawn in any way."

"Mommm..."

"Well, I know he's a vampire, honey, and that's certainly a mark against him - but he wouldn't be the first vampire you've dated."

"We are so NOT dating, Mom!"

"I still think you must have given him some kind of signals - even unconscious ones - that led him to think you might be interested in him."

Buffy rolled her eyes and headed for the stairs. "I'm going to sleep now. Maybe when I wake up, I'll find out this was all a nightmare."

* * * * * * * * * *

The next day, Willow discussed the situation with Tara. The redhead knew that her lover was much more empathic than she was, and hoped she would be able to help Willow figure out what was going on.

"Tara, do you think it's really possible that Buffy... actually wants to be WITH Spike, when she's so busy telling everybody that she wants him to stay away from her?"

"That's just it, honey. Buffy's going around telling EVERYONE that she loathes Spike, he's disgusting, he's horrible, and she wants him gone. But she could have staked him anytime in the last year, since he got the chip in his head. She swore she was going to, after Spike kidnaped that Initiative doctor that helped Riley, but she didn't And did you see her reaction when Glory knocked Spike out, then said something about him being Buffy's boyfriend? She looked even madder then, than when Glory was threatening Dawn."

"And that's another odd question, Wil. Why would Glory think Spike was Buffy's boyfriend? They didn't even come in the room together. Except for that one time that Glory was in the Magick Box, none of us had seen her till that night in the hospital. And none of us really paid any attention to her, or her to us, except Giles because she bought something from him. Maybe she's picking up on something the rest of us are missing?"

"Maybe... But, if Spike doesn't have a soul - how can he really love Buffy?"

"Wills, most demons don't have human souls. It doesn't keep them from having emotions. My.. my own family had me convinced that I was a demon, and I was still in love with you."

"But you're not actually a demon, Tara. Spike proved it when he.. punched.. you. Oh. And we all thought he was being mean. He was actually HELPING us."

"I THOUGHT I was a demon. And I've seen a few demons from time to time. They can get emotionally hurt, fall in love, marry, have children, feel pain.. well, some of them... just like humans do."

"Oh! Oh, and, um, Buffy's first roommate! She was a demon, and she was trying to steal Buffy's soul so that when her - the demon's - father showed up, he'd think that she was human, and he couldn't find her to take her home!"

"And didn't Giles say there was a half-demon named Doyle who was helping Angel in L.A.? Wasn't he in love with Cordelia?"

Willow gave her lover a half-smile. "That's a scary thought right there, anyone being in love with Cordy, much less a demon, or a half-demon, as the case may be."

As the two young women recalled various demons or half-demons that they had run across in the past, it became overwhelmingly obvious that the whole "no soul = no feelings" thing was as outdated as last year's fashions.

"Well, OK, so Spike CAN love Buffy. That doesn't mean that he actually does. I mean, what he did... That's not what I'd call love."

"All we know is what Buffy told us. - She went to talk to Spike and found him with Drusilla. He and Drusilla used a cattle prod on her, and when she came to, Spike had chained her up. Then he told her he loved her, and said that if she didn't love him back, he was going to let Drusilla kill her. Drusilla attacked her, Buffy fought back, Drusilla left, Buffy punched out Spike and left. Did I get everything?"

"Yeah, that seems to cover what Buffy told us. Wait a minute... If the chip keeps Spike from hurting anyone, how could he use a cattle prod on Buffy?"

"It must have been Drusilla. But it's not like Spike stopped her. And he threatened to let Drusilla kill Buffy if Buffy didn't say she loved him."

Willow looked puzzled. "He must have KNOWN that wouldn't work. Especially not after Buffy's reaction to the ultimatum that Riley gave her two months ago. I don't know. I feel like we're trying to put a puzzle together, and a lot of the pieces are missing."

The blond witch thought for a moment. "What if we go talk to Spike ourselves? Get his point of view? If we can, I mean. After the way we all treated him this morning, he may not talk to any of us."

The redhead nodded. "And we'd better have a truth spell ready. That way we'll all be able to tell if the others are lying or not."

It didn't take the two young women long to get to Spike's crypt. As a precaution, they took the obligatory stakes and crosses in case Drusilla had come back.

At first, Willow & Tara didn't think Spike was there. His TV and fridge were missing, and the vampire was nowhere to be seen. Just as they were about to leave, Spike came up through the manhole cover in the back of the crypt. He was clearly surprised to see them.

"Well, what's this, then? Can't even wait a full day, the Slayer sent you two over to make sure I get out of town? Well, that's gratitude for you."

"It's not that, Spike. We... we wanted to talk to you."

"Whatever for, Red? Seems like you lot said everything this morning."

Willow and Tara glanced at each other. The blond vampire's tone had been very bitter - more so than usual.

"It just seemed like, like there was more that happened than Buffy let on. We wanted to get your side of the story."

"Well, that's a first, isn't it? And here I thought the Slayer's word was law with you Scoobies. Alright then, what do you want to know?"

Willow glanced around nervously. "Well... is there someplace else we could talk? We didn't really tell Buffy or Giles we were coming..."

Tara picked up with "And it needs to be some place where we'll be undisturbed. We want to use a truth spell."

"Don't trust the evil vampire to tell the truth, is that it?" he snarled.

"Not just you! We want you to be able to believe us, too." Tara replied.

* * * * * * * * * *

After a short trip through the sewers, Spike lead the two girls up into a different crypt. "We ought to be undisturbed here for a while. 'Bout how long will this take, Red? I need to finish _packing_."

"Not long, I hope. Just let us cast the truth spell..."

"How does it work, then? Do you get bells and whistles if one of us lies?"

Willow smiled slightly. "Nothing like that. We made it quiet so we wouldn't be interrupted. No, after we cast the spell, we'll all have a blue light around us. A lie will make the light turn red. And if the person is deliberately not telling the whole truth, the light turns yellow."

"Just like a bloody traffic light, eh? Alright, I'm game. Let's do it."

The two girls cast the spell, and the three of them were surrounded by a softly glowing blue light. Willow grinned. "OK, now I'll test it. I'm a 1000 year old ex-vengeance demon." The light around her blazed a brilliant crimson as she spoke, then slowly turned blue again a few seconds after she quit. "It works!" The blue light became brighter.

A few minutes later, Spike started relating how Drusilla had returned, the trip to the Bronze, and how the two vampires come back to the crypt, only to find Buffy already there. "And Drusilla, well, she's never really forgiven me for not killing the Slayer when she and Angelus were fighting. So Dru hit her with the cattle prod, and wanted to torture the Slayer a bit before killing her. I couldn't protest too much, Dru was my lover for over a hundred years, she knows me too well. She would have turned on me as well. I had to wait until she was off-guard, and knock her out too."

"But you chained Buffy up!"

"Well, yeah. Didn't want her to wake up and stake me before I'd had a chance to have my say. Girl didn't want to hear it, but it was something I HAD to say. Even offered to prove it to her. I was gonna dust Dru for her."

Tara asked, "What was Buffy's reaction?" She was surprised to see.. was it tears?.. in the vampire's eyes as he answered.

"She said it was nothing to her! My dark princess... my only love for over a hundred years! And I was offering to dust her... just to prove my love for the Slayer!"

"But Buffy said that you threatened to let Drusilla kill her!"

"Well, yeah. I sorta did." Spike took another puff from his ever-present cigarette. "But NOT until the Slayer practically laughed in my face. All I wanted was a crumb! The smallest possibility that, someday, maybe... And I got mad, and threatened to let Dru have her. But I never would have done it. I COULDN'T have done it."

He began to pace up and down the crypt as he spoke. "She doesn't understand, and I don't know how to make it clear to her! I've never loved anyone but Drusilla, not since I was Turned. And before that... well, that doesn't matter. I know it's wrong! - A vampire loving the Slayer! I'm not a COMPLETE idiot! But I JUST CAN'T HELP it."

"Then Harmony shot me with that stupid crossbow of hers. While I was keeping HER from killing me, Dru managed to get loose and attack Buffy. As soon as I could, I shoved Dru away and unchained Buffy. But did she thank me? Bloody hell, of course not! She punched me instead!"

"And then I found out that YOU had done the uninvite ritual for her. Thanks a lot, Red!"

"She IS my friend, Spike - and she asked me to."

"And have you asked yourself why she picks now to uninvite me? Of course not. I could have killed her anytime in the last few years - until I got this chip in my head, of course. It's not like she's afraid of me. I CAN'T hurt her now, even if I didn't love her too much to try. So what's she afraid of?"

Willow thought for a minute. "Well, you said that Drusilla told Buffy you'd been feeding again. Maybe Buffy thought you'd found a way around the chip?"

"If she'd asked, Red, I could have told her what happened. Drusilla killed that girl at the Bronze, then tossed her to me like you'd toss a bone to a starving dog. It's been a good long time since I was able to feed off a human... and I wasn't going to start back then, but Drusilla..." He sighed. "You'd have to have seen her, pet. Dru had that LOOK on her face. If I hadn't fed, she was quite capable of killing me then and there, with no more thought than you'd give to squashin' a bug. So I did. The poor girl was already dead, anyway. I figured I'd best go along with Dru until I could get hold of Buffy, or get rid of my ex on my own. Only things didn't quite work out that way." The blond vampire looked pensive as he took another drag off of his cigarette. The glowing light never flickered as he related his story.

"Ok, then... this morning at the Magick Shop. Why didn't you just tell us the truth?"

"Like you lot would have believed me? I didn't know what the Slayer had told you," Spike paused, and the blue light around him suddenly swirled to a shade of orange. "What the..? You didn't say anything about ORANGE!"

Tara hid a smile behind her hand. "It's means that you're trying to lie AND withhold part of the truth. Red and yellow equal orange!"

The aura of light slowly turned blue again. "Well, alright then. But the two of you have to promise not to tell anybody - especially Buffy." The girls nodded in tandem. Spike continued, staring at the floor, "I didn't want to tell any of you, because... I was embarrassed. Me - the BIG BAD.

Embarrassed like a litt'l kid. I hadn't meant for the Slayer to see Drusilla at all. I was going to try to get Dru out of town again before the two of them met up. Then there she was, and me with blood still on my mouth..." He shook his head. "It's pitiful I was. Feeling like a kid caught with his hand in the cookie jar. I didn't mean to lose my temper and threaten her either, but when Buffy's around, the only thing I want to do is either fight with her or kiss her. Right now I can't do either."

Tara and Willow looked at each other for long moments, then the two of them stood up and stepped slightly away from the brooding vampire. "We need to talk to each other for a minute, Spike. OK?"

"Sure, Red. I'm not going anywhere till you cancel this spell, anyway. Couldn't sneak up on anyone glowing like a bloody light bulb."

The girls walked a few feet away and turned their backs to him to speak in private - or as much privacy as the vampire's better hearing would allow.

"What do you think, Willow? Should we help him?"

"I..I don't know, Tara. I mean, he really DOES love Buffy, but... if she really doesn't want anything to do with him... should we really interfere?"

Tara glanced back over her shoulder at the 'peroxide pest'. "He's really hurting, Willow. Like I was when I thought you were going back to Oz. There must be something we can do for him."

They talked very quietly for a few more minutes, then went back and sat down in front of Spike again.

"Well, what's it to be, then? Do you believe me, or is this another round of 'Kick the Spike'?"

Willow glanced at Tara before answering. "_We_ believe you. And Tara and I will do what we can to make the others see both sides of the story. But we don't think that Buffy is going to listen to reason right now. She's had an awful lot to deal with lately - her mom being sick, taking care of Dawn, the problem with Glory - then Riley leaving like he did."

Tara took up the story. "And we think that that's the main reason Buffy is acting the way she is. Riley, I mean. From what Willow's told me, Riley was always telling Buffy that he loved her, and he would always love her. Then he left - with hardly any warning."

"And Angel did practically the same thing to her," continued Willow. "He said he wanted her to have a normal life, and that he was leaving for her own good. So when you tell her you love her, she probably feels like running screaming in the opposite direction. Buffy hasn't really recovered from the last time yet. She's just... really good at hiding it."

"So... what then? Are you saying I should just leave?"

"Noooo... I think, from the way she's acting, that she really does have feelings for you. Kinda like 'the Slayer doth protest too much'. But any more pressure right now, she might break down. Tara and I think... we think you ought to be 'hard to get'."

"How's tha' again, Red?" "Hard to get... right now, every time you try to tell her how you feel, she gets mad, so you don't tell her. You let her see you, but then make a big deal of leaving when you 'see' her."

"Oh, umm, and move someplace where she can't find you as easily. That way, Buffy can't just 'drop by' when she wants information or.. or anything. If you're harder to find, she might realize how many times she's gone looking for you lately."

"Well, I've already started moving, ducks. Didn't fancy having the Watcher or the whelp staking me in m' sleep."

"But you are staying here, right? I mean, you're not leaving Sunnydale, are you?"

"I'll be around, Red. That Glory chippy is still here, and whether she likes it or not, the Slayer needs my help. If I let you know where I'll be, can you keep quiet about it? Not mention it to any of your stake-happy pals?"

Willow leaned over and hesitantly put her hand on Spike's arm. "We'll keep your secret, Spike. And.. and.. I want you to know... that I don't hold it against you that you tried to bite me last year."

The blond vamp grinned at her. "You would have been a real treat, pet. Normally I wouldn't have tried to kill one of the Slayer's friends, that's just not my style." He crushed out his cigarette and reached for another one. "But you impressed me, the way you behaved when I had you and the boy that time. I could have killed you in a heartbeat, but you stood up to me anyway."

For some strange reason, the thought that she had impressed Spike gave Willow a warm fuzzy. But there was one more thing...

"One more thing, Spike. Last year, you teamed up with Adam against us. We need your promise NOT to help Glory."

"No problem there, Red. As I understand it, that hell-bitch wants to combine wherever she's from with our world here. I don't want that now, anymore than I wanted it when Angelus was going to wake Acathla to suck the world into hell."

Tara looked at him curiously. "Why not, Spike?"

"For the same reasons I gave the Slayer then. I enjoy this world too much. It has such wonderful things in it; music, cigarettes, happy meals with legs - *oww* - alright, forget that last. Let's just say I'd much rather be a big fish in a small pond, than a tiny demon in whatever dimension that chippie is from."

He stood up. "Now, let's get this bloody spell turned off so's I can finish what I was doing. Oh, and Red,.. let me know if the Nibblet is in any danger. She shouldn't suffer just 'cos the Slayer's being bitchy with me."

Tara quickly canceled the spell, and Spike left through the sewers. Willow was the first to speak up. "Wow, did you hear that? *Spike* wants to protect Dawn. He really has changed."

* * * * * * * * * *

The next morning, Willow found a note tucked into her book bag telling her where Spike was staying now. He'd found an abandoned building, complete with sewer access, closer to Revello Drive than he had been. The note gave her directions, in case she ever needed them.

She and Tara had decided that one of them needed to keep Spike "in the loop" about what was happening with Glory. Every day or two, one of them would meet him at the abandoned building and bring him up to date. They would also try to get Buffy and the others to see that there might be more to Spike than anyone thought. Willow grimaced to herself. *That won't be easy to do without letting anyone know that me and Tara know Spike's side of things, too.*

* * * * * * * * * *

A couple of days later, the two witches went to the Magick Box to get more supplies for the Truth Spell. Willow figured they'd have to do the spell at least once or twice more before they were through.

When they entered the shop, they saw Xander poring over more of Giles' texts. "Hi, Xander. You still doing the research thing?"

"Hi, Wil, Tara. Yeah, I'm still Research Man. Haven't turned anything up we can use against Glory, though."

Anya, as usual, piped up from behind the counter. "But Xander is trying very hard! He hasn't even stopped for sex this morning!"

"Anya! I've asked you not to mention things like that to other people!" Xander groaned. *Will she EVER stop telling everybody about our sex life?* On the plus side, at least they were having one to talk about. *I'll try and explain it to her again later.*

Tacitly ignoring Anya's outburst, Willow continued, "How about the Watcher's Council?"

Xander grimaced. "Them neither. You'd think they'd have SOMETHING useful for us, especially after the way they harassed everyone when they were here."

Willow sat down, as Tara crossed to the counter where the ex-demon stood. "Anya, you're over a thousand years old. Have you ever he.. heard of Glory?"

"Nooo, not by that name. Hey! Maybe it's not her real name!"

"Or maybe," Willow felt a glimmer of an idea forming, "maybe she doesn't really have a name at all." *There's something... about not having a name... if I can just get a grip on it...*

Xander changed the subject. "Enough about Glory. How's about going Bronzing tonight with me and Anya? It's payday again, so I can afford to splurge a little. Unless Spike shows up and steals my money again."

Frowning a bit, Anya came from behind the counter and over to the table. "I don't think I've seen Spike the last day or so.

"Actually, I saw him last night, near the cemetery. I'm not sure, but he looked kinda... depressed."

"Willow. Like anybody cares whether #Spike# is depressed."

"But Xander! You know what happened last time he got depressed, he tried to stake himself."

"Well, we certainly can't let that happen! Why let him stake himself, when it'd be so much more fun for one of us to do it for him? I volunteer!"

Tara looked at the table as she spoke. "I.. I think he's very lo.. lonely. And.. and kinda sad."

Xander retorted, "See how much I #don't# care!," and glared at Tara.

"Well, he doesn't.. have anybody to talk to now. He doesn't get along with the demons and other vampires, because he's been... fighting against them. Now Drusilla's left him again, and none of us will speak to him. I.. I just think that he must feel" (her voice softened a bit) "very, very lonely."

Anya smacked Xander on the shoulder. "See, Xander, I TOLD you we had hurt his feelings."

"Anya, he's a vampire. Vampires don't have any feelings."

"And I was a demon. Do you think that I didn't have any feelings then? I most certainly did! Every time I granted a wish for some mistreated woman, I felt very good about myself!"

Just then, Giles and Buffy came out of the training room in the back of the shop.

"Hey, guys. What are you arguing about?"

"Well, it's not really an argument, Buffy. Willow said she saw Spike and he looked depressed, and I was expressing my non-concern over it," Xander snidely commented.

"I still think he must be lonely." Tara defended her opinion.

"Well, if he gets in my way while I'm patrolling, I'll cure his loneliness permanently - with a stake."

"Why do you always say that, Buffy?"

"Say what, Anya?"

"You always say you're going to stake him, but Spike is still walking around. I don't think you mean it."

"Oh, I mean it all right. I just haven't done it before because of the chip. He's pretty much harmless right now." But a strange echo played in her head at Anya's words. *Sing me another one, Slayer. That song's getting old.*

Xander snickered. "With the chip in his head, _Dawn_ is more dangerous than he is right now."

"Then I don't understand. How can Spike be harmless but dangerous at the same time?"

"What are you talking about, Anya?" Xander asked offhandedly as he continued to flip through the book in front of him.

"The other day - I thought that Spike was thrown out because he's dangerous to Buffy. How can he be dangerous with the chip in his head?"

The Slayer retorted, "He may not be very dangerous, but he's still VERY annoying."

Giles took his glasses off and polished them as he spoke. "And... and there are other ways of being dangerous besides the physical. Last year Spike almost succeeded in splitting the group up with various rumors that he started. Buffy needs to focus on Glory, not be distracted with Spike's protestations of affection."

Willow had tried to bring that glimmering of an idea to the fore while the others were arguing. *Something to do with... that sphere Buffy found?* "Not to change the subject, Giles, but.. OK, I guess I am changing the subject... Did you find out anything else on that glowy sphere that Buffy found?"

"Not really, Willow, why?"

"Tara and I thought that it might be useful if we can figure out how to use it. Maybe a defensive spell, since it's supposed to be able to repel stuff."

"Well, yes, that could be helpful." He saw a young child handling items across the shop. "What is that child playing with? I'm sure it's breakable." (pause) "Certainly, Willow, why don't you and Tara take it with you and see what you come up with?" Giles walked away to retrieve the small statues that a small boy was handling, pointing out the sign that said "You break it, you bought it" to the boy's mother.


	2. Chapter 2

The two girls left with the sphere and went to meet Spike. The abandoned house he inhabited looked like it might fall down at any second. After checking carefully, Willow found an exterior entrance to the basement.

Spike answered the door after the redhead had knocked several times. He was careful to stay out of the sunlight.

"Can we come in, Spike?"

"Sure, Red. Nice to see someone in your set knows how to knock."

As they entered, the girls looked around. The basement was neat, but almost as bare as the crypt had been. But there were enough chairs for all three of them to sit down.

"What's up, Red? What's that you've got there." Spike lit up a cigarette as he spoke.

"It's called the Dagon Sphere, and is supposed to repel 'that which cannot be named'. It appeared just about the same time that Glory did. I was kinda hoping you knew what it was good for."

The blond vampire looked the sphere over carefully. "Dagon Sphere, heh? I think I _have_ heard of it. It's supposed to be very powerful. And I'm pretty sure the thing 'which cannot be named' is that hell-bitch you lot are having trouble with."

"B... but we thought her name was Glory!" Willow was startled. *Could the answer be that easy? I might never have seen it if not for Spike.*

"Yeah, well, I've been doing what I can to find out more about her, and apparently 'Glory' is just short for Your Magnificent Gloriousness, Most Beauteous One, etc. etc. Her minions have to call her something, so... Glory. Could have been worse, they could have called her Beauty, or Maggie, or some such."

Curious, Tara asked, "How is the sphere supposed to work? Do you know?"

"Well, as I recall, it keeps the 'unnamed one' from getting too close to wherever the sphere is. I'd give it to Dawn, if I were you. Might help keep Glory away from her. Oh, and I've heard it amplifies spells. You witch-girls should be able to find a way to take advantage of that."

"It's a bloody shame you can't just send her back where she came from."

A light burst over Willow's head. *Back where she came from!!* "Spike, you're brilliant." She leaned over and kissed him on the cheek, then grabbed Tara's hand and almost ran out, she was in such a hurry.

*Curiouser and curiouser.* Spike raised his hand to the cheek that Willow had kissed. "Wha'd I do to deserve that?"

* * * * * * * * * *

After some discussion with Tara, Willow decided that they should take their newest project to Giles. "After all, he's used magic a lot longer than we have, even if he's not a witch. And, some of my spells haven't gone quite, umm, like they should have?"

"You could say that. In fact, I think you did," giggled Tara.

"Oh, but, and this is real important, Giles can't know that we got any of this from Spike, or he won't have anything to do with it. We'll have to make him think that we came up with it ourselves."

"I know! We can say we did a divination spell on the Sphere."

They couldn't go back right away. Enough time hadn't passed for them to have learned anything about the Sphere by themselves. The girls waited several hours, and got to the Magick Shop just as Giles was closing up for the evening.

"Giles, we need to talk to you, it's really important."

"Can it wait till morning? It's been a long day."

"We wanted to talk to you about that spell I used to get rid of the troll, and it's in the shop."

"Very well, Willow. You and Tara come, come on in."

Once inside, Willow told him of the idea that Spike's idle comment had sparked. "Tara and I were, were doing a divination spell to find out about the Dagon Sphere, and we found out that it amplifies spells."

Tara continued, "And then I mentioned, it was too bad we couldn't just send Glory back where she belongs."

"And I remembered the spell that I used to send that troll to the troll dimension, and I think that we can alter it enough to send Glory back to whatever dimension she came from...."

"And since the Sphere amplifies spells, we should be able to focus the spell _though_ it to boost its power..."

"But we really want your help to make sure we don't mess this up, because it's really, really important."

Giles felt like he was watching a tennis match as the two girls talked back and forth. "Alright, alright, I agree. We can start working on the spell tomorrow, though, when we've all had a good night's sleep."

He ushered the girls out of the shop again. "Do you need a ride home?"

"Well, OK, yeah. It'll be a lot faster than the bus."

* * * * * * * * * *

While the witches worked out how to defeat Glory, Spike was taking their advice on playing hard to get. He followed the Slayer while she patrolled, but made sure to stay back where she wouldn't see him, occasionally taking out the odd vampire or demon that came his way.

Several times, Buffy sensed someone nearby, but never saw anyone. The blond vampire usually managed to fade into the shadows before she could find him. Once, though, she came across the blond vampire while he was taking out two fledgelings, and snarled at him, "Spike. Didn't I tell you to get out of town?"

"Oh, and where would I go with this bleedin' chip in my head? At least here I know who the bloody monsters are." He looked pointedly at Buffy, clearing inferring that SHE was one of the them. "I suppose I could go join Darla and Dru in harassing Peaches, but Darla'd most likely stake me herself after Dru told her I'd been siding with the Slayer."

"I don't care, Spike. Just stay OUT of my way."

"What, you think I'm just hanging around here on your account, Slayer, so you can rip out my unbeating heart and stomp on it again? Been there, done that... don't bloody fancy doing it again."

"Get out of my sight, before I stake you myself."

"Glad to, Slayer." He moved away quickly, his voice trailing off as he left. "I was just minding my own business, anyway, having a little fun..."

Buffy was surprised. *He sure left fast enough. I thought he'd stay around and irritate me like he usually does.* She continued her patrol. *Come to think of it, though, I haven't seen him around much lately.* The thought made her feel oddly - lonely? *I guess I miss punching him out. My life is REALLY getting weird.*

Except for tonight, the few times she HAD seen the vampire, he seemed to be making tracks in the opposite direction. For someone who had gone so far as to chain her up to tell her he loved her, he seemed very determined to stay away from her. *Well, I told him to, I guess, but this must be the first time he's listened to me. Strange things just keep happening with him around.*   
* * * * * * * * * *

Willow took the Dagon Sphere over to the Summers' house the next day. Dawn needed to have it as soon as possible, in case Glory found out the teen was the Key. The redhead made sure to volunteer herself and Tara for 'Dawn patrol' that evening so she and Tara could talk to Dawn about Spike.

When the girls arrived for their 'shift' that evening, Joyce was still at the Gallery. Buffy was about to leave on patrol.

"Hi, guys, the relief watch is here."

"You know, I don't really need babysitters, you guys. I AM 14, I can tie my own shoelaces, feed myself, and everything."

"Dawn, be nice. Willow and Tara aren't here as babysitters, they're here as bodyguards. Or early warning signals. Or something. Look, I've gotta go. Xander is going to patrol with me, and I'm going to be late meeting him." The Slayer left, an apparent dark cloud over her head.

"Wow, what's up with Buffy tonight? Dawnie? Did you two have a fight or something?"

"Not exactly, Willow. I just told her I was tired of being treated like a baby, and she went all ballistic on me. So I said that if somebody had to be here watching me, somebody should go on patrol with her. Fair is fair." The younger girl tossed her long hair back over her shoulder. "She's just mad all the time lately, I don't know why."

"How long has she been like that, Dawn?" asked Tara.

The teenager shrugged. "I don't know. A while. Since sometime after Riley left."

"Dawnie, could it be because of Spike?"

Dawn's shoulders tensed and she wrapped her arms around herself. "Spike? Could be, I guess. Can we talk about something else?"

"Dawnie, we have to tell you something. Something you may not like. Something about Spike."

"I don't want to hear anything about him! I liked him... He treated me like an adult... and then he tried to get Buffy killed!"

"No, no, he didn't. You have to hear the whole story first," Tara tried to calm the teen down.

"And that's all it is! A story! Something that Spike made up to trick us all!"

"Dawn! You are GOING to listen. But Tara and I are gonna cast a truth spell first so you can tell we're not lying to you."

The young girl perked up a bit at this. *Cool! I NEVER get to see anybody doing magic; everybody says I'm too young.* "I guess I can listen - IF I can watch you do the spell," she said a bit sullenly. She didn't want to seem TOO impressed. "How does it work?"

The redhead explained again about how the different color lights corresponded to whether you were telling the truth or lying.

"But how can you tell whether I'm deliberately not telling all the truth, or if I just don't know?"

"It's in the way the spell is worded. Thoughts are energy, and the magic 'reads' that energy. Kinda like a home-made lie detector. If you know something, but you don't want to say it, you still can't help but think about it."

"OK, but how does it WORK, Willow?"

She grinned at Buffy's sister. "It's magic."

Dawn rolled her eyes at the redhead.

* * * * * * * * * *

After making a few preparations, the two witchs recited the truth spell together.

"Our thoughts and words shall be the light  
That now surrounds us, shining bright.

Red are roses, and so are lies.  
Yellow as daisies, the truth now hides.

The truth shall be a shining blue,  
'Twixt you and me, and me and you."

Once the light glowed around the three of them, Willow quickly filled Dawn in on Spike's side of the story.

The younger girl looked puzzled. "So, you mean Buffy lied to us?"

"Well, not exactly, Dawnie. Buffy's got a lot going on right now; the thing with Glory, Riley leaving, your mom being sick, and all. We think, Tara and me, that Buffy... misunderstood Spike's intentions."

"Yeah, the average person doesn't chain you up just to talk to you. But Spike isn't exactly your average person. OK, I get that. And you said that he really does want to help us? Me, Mom, and Buffy, I mean?"

Tara was quick to reassure her. "That's right, he gave us directions for you, so that if you and your Mom needed someplace to hide from Glory, you could find him and he'd protect you."

"But you have to PROMISE that you won't tell Buffy about any of this," Willow insisted. "Or we can't give you the directions."

"No problem. I can keep a secret," Dawn said. *Especially from Buffy. She ALWAYS keeps secrets from me.*

* * * * * * * * * *

Nothing out of the ordinary happened over the next few days. Glory wasn't visible, vampire stakings were down; the whole Hellmouth seemed to be taking a break.

Even Spike remarked on it when Willow stopped by to see him one evening. "It's too quiet for this time of year. Hardly any demons or vampires around at all."

"Maybe it's something Glory's doing?"

"Could be, red. She's been laying low for a while. Here's something you might find interesting, though. A demon I know was following her for me, trying to get some more info on what she's up to, and he told me that Glory turned into a man."

"What? Turned into? How could she...?"

"Don't know, pet. But if she looks like a woman sometimes, and like a man the rest, could be why your lot are having such a hard time finding her."

*Gotta make sure to tell Giles about that. We'll have to make sure that the spell covers that problem, too.* "Thanks, Spike. That could be real helpful."

* * * * * * * * * *

A couple of weeks later, everyone was gathered at Buffy's house for a Scooby meeting. Dawn had the Dagon Sphere in her lap; she had kept it near at hand since Willow had given it to her.

Spike, of course, hadn't been invited. The witch had told him about the meeting, and would meet him later to fill him in on the latest strategy. *I'm beyond pathetic - waiting around for them like their dog, or something.* He slammed his hand into the wall. "Well, I'll just go over there myself. If I can't go in, at least I can eavesdrop for myself instead of waitin' for whatever treats Red and her witch-friend want to toss my way." His leather duster swirling around him, he left the basement behind.

Back at Buffy's, the meeting had barely gotten started when the "Glory alarm" went off as the hell-goddess strutted down the walkway towards the house.

"Oh, Buffy! Come out, come out, wherever you are." Glory called in a sing-song voice as she came ever closer to the house. "I know one of your friends is the Key! Come out, come out, and give them to me!"

Buffy appeared on the steps so quickly, she surprised Glory.

"Well, there you are. Do you know what I found?" The psychotic blond raised her left hand, revealing a large purple crystal. "THIS... THIS is JUST what I need to find my Key! This is the Stone of the Seer, and it will SHOW ME where my Key is!"

Inside the house, Giles gasped at her words. "Bloody hell! How did she find that? It's been missing for centuries!" He turned to Xander and Anya. "Quickly, you two take Dawn and Joyce upstairs and hide. Keep the Dagon Sphere with you regardless of what else you do."

Before anyone could move, however, Buffy leaped from the steps into battle with Glory. Everyone else was temporarily frozen as they watched the Slayer start a fight that she had no hope of winning.

Glory LOOKED at Buffy through the crystal as the Slayer leapt towards her. "You're not my Key, but then I was fairly certain of that anyway." The blond in the red dress didn't actually hit Buffy, as much as just sweep her out of the way. The hell-goddess continued walking towards the house despite everything that Buffy could throw at her. "Now look! You're starting to irritate me. Just get out of my way till I find out which one of your weird little group is my Key, and then everything will be all right!"

Buffy was taking much more damage than she was able to deal out, but she HAD to stop THAT WOMAN from getting to her friends. *I don't know how much more of this I can take,* she thought as Glory casually brushed her to one side again, *but it has to be enough to protect Dawn and the others. It HAS to.*

Almost at the foot of the steps, Glory turned to face Buffy as the Slayer once more attacked. She grabbed the petite blond's left arm in both hands and twisted. As the bone #CRACK#ed, Glory petulantly said, "I TOLD you to leave me alone. Now see what you made me do!" Glory held one perfect hand in front of the Slayer's face as Buffy went to her knees, her broken arm useless at her side. "You made me break a nail! You'll have to be punished for that."

Battered and bloody, Buffy remained silent. Glory reached down and grabbed Buffy by the front of her shirt, then threw her into the trunk of a tree. Buffy's head bounced hard against the tree, temporarily stunning her. As Glory moved towards her again, she was suddenly tackled by Spike from behind.

The blond vampire been on his way to the house on Revello when he'd heard the alarm go off. He'd gotten there as fast as he could, but unfortunately not fast enough to keep Glory away from his Slayer.

With his game face on, Spike managed to get a few good blows in before Glory regained her balance. Then it was Spike who was in trouble.

Glory raised him almost carelessly into the air, holding onto the back of his duster and shirt. Inside the house, those watching in frozen horror could hear each blow land as the psychotic blond proceeded to beat the vampire bloody.

"I thought" #smack# "I told you" #thump# "to stay" #whump# "away from me." #whack# "Or maybe not." #crack# "It doesn't really matter, anyway." She surveyed her work. Spike hung limply in her grasp, unconscious or worse.

"Hey! I'm talking here!" Glory slapped him across the face several times, her long nails cutting open the skin each time she hit him. "And you're not listening to me!" Getting no response, she threw the blond vampire to one side like a rag doll.

As the hell-goddess turned towards the house again, Buffy, still dazed from the blow to her head, tried to intercept her. Glory once again swept her casually aside.

*As casually as the troll swept me aside,* Xander thought in a remote part of himself. The majority of his attention was focused on the uneven battle outside.

Giles, suddenly realizing that everyone inside the house had been staring at the fight as if hypnotized, started to push Dawn and Joyce towards the stairs. But it was too late. Glory smashed the door in as casually as she'd done everything else.

"Now, we'll see. ONE of you, one of YOU, is my Key. All I have to do, is look through the Stone at each of you to find out which one." As Glory raised the purple stone to look through it, Xander tried to grab her from behind. Without even looking, the blond pushed him away, bouncing him off the wall behind her. "Nice try, little boy. But if those two outside couldn't take me, what good do you think you're going to do?"

Starting with Giles, she examined each of them with the stone in her hand. "Do you know how LONG I've been looking for my Key? DO YOU? You don't care about the time and effort I've put in, do you? YOU just want to keep my Key from me!" As she turned to look at Dawn, Glory exclaimed with satisfaction and exasperation. "YOU?! You're the Key?! And I almost killed you by mistake." She reached for Dawn as the young girl retreated towards the staircase. "Just hold on, young lady, it's not polite to leave when I'm talking to you."

As the hell-goddess attempted to grab Dawn by the arm, she was stopped just a few feet away by an invisible wall. "What is THIS?!!! I will NOT be stopped now, I WILL! NOT! BE! STOPPED!"

Willow, Tara, and Giles took advantage of the blond woman's distraction to begin casting their spell. They had worked long and hard on this, not telling anyone else what they were trying to do in case it didn't work right. As they threw a mixture of herbs onto Glory, the three chanted the spell they had worked out -

"The one called Glory, that we see  
Have her go back where she should be.

To her home so far away,  
There have her go, there have her stay.

And nevermore come here again,  
There she should go, and take her twin.

Never more for us to meet.  
Let the transposition be complete."

As they finished speaking, all three pointed at the Dagon Sphere that Dawn held. Energy arced between the magic workers and the Sphere as if lightning suddenly filled the room, and then the energy arced outward to Glory.

As they finished speaking, all three pointed at the Dagon Sphere that Dawn held. Energy arced between the magic workers and the Sphere as if lightning suddenly filled the room, and then the energy arced outward to Glory.

Buffy staggered through the outer doorway just in time to see the hell-goddess start to glow brightly as she began screaming, "NO! NO! Not when I was so close! NOOOO!"

To everyone's surprise, as the spell took effect Glory morphed into Ben, the intern from the hospital, then back into Glory. Her screams faded as if she became further and further away, and her alter-egos flickered back and forth several times as she became more and more indistinct. Then she was gone, as if she had never been there.

"Buffy!" Joyce was the first to notice her eldest daughter, slumped in the doorway. She rushed over to her, almost colliding with Giles. "Are you all right?"

"I will be, Mom. Is everyone in here OK? What happened to Glory?"

"We'll go over it later, Buffy." Giles immediately took charge of things. "Right now, we need to make sure if anyone else is injured." He looked to where Xander lay against the wall.

"I'm OK, Giles. Me and my ego are just a bit bruised," the teen said as he stood up and brushed himself off.

"Oh, my God! Spike!!" Dawn rushed outside as she remembered what they had seen happen to the vampire. Joyce and the others followed her out, Giles and Willow stopping at the door to check on Buffy, who reassured them that she was all right.


	3. Chapter 3

"Spike! Spike!!" The young teen shook him several times, then looked up at her mother. "Mom! He's not moving! I think he's dead!"

Xander looked at her and shook his head. "Dawn, he's a vampire. He's already dead."

"Well... Deader than usual, then! He needs help! We need to DO something for him."

From the front door, Buffy said offhandedly, "He's a vampire, Dawn. I'll take him back to his crypt later, he can heal up there."

"Buffy Anne Summers!" Joyce looked at her in shocked surprise. "You may not like him, but Spike just saved your life. I didn't raise you to be cruel, and you're certainly not going to start now. Xander and Anya, please bring him into the house. I'll get some bandages."

Just as Xander and Anya awkwardly managed to get Spike into the Summers' house, a police car pulled up in front of the residence. As the officers got out of the car, Joyce whispered to Tara, "Go inside and make sure Spike's out of sight." Tara nodded and went in the house.

"Well, then, people, what happened here?" asked the older policeman.

"We're, umm, not sure, officer. We think it was some sort of, of..." Giles glanced at Joyce, then away again, temporarily at a loss for words.

"Gang initiation," the older woman chimed in. "We saw a lot of them when we lived in L.A."

"Your door is broken. Is anybody hurt?"

"Just a, a little, officer. One of them knocked me against a tree." Buffy added her bit to the explanation.

"Yes, that's what happened. Buffy was coming home from the college library, and... and two men broke into the house. They ran when they saw that there were several people inside, and one of them knocked her into a tree as he left."

"How injured are you, ma'am? Your head's bleeding. Do you need an ambulance?"

With a glance at Giles and her mom, Buffy answered, "Nooo, I think I'm just bruised. I scratched my head on the tree bark when I hit it. I promise, I'll have someone take me to the hospital if I feel worse."

"Well, alright then. Now, sir, if you'll just give us a little more information for our log..."

Joyce took her daughter into the house while Giles remained outside to help the police finish their report. The blood from Buffy's scalp wound continuously dripped down her face.

The Slayer was surprised when Anya met them at the door with a small bowl. "Here, Buffy. Drip into this so that you don't get more blood on the floor."

"A bowl, Anya? Wouldn't a towel be better?"

"Oh, no, Buffy. It'll be much harder to feed Spike with it if we use a towel."

"It'll be harder to do WHAT!?"

Dawn appeared in the doorway. "It was my idea. Spike needs blood to heal, right? And you're bleeding, right? Why let it go to waste?"

"Dawn, I am _so_ going to kill you when I can use both hands again."

Joyce thought for a moment. "You know, I think she's right, Buffy. Spike WAS fighting against Glory, after all. That makes him our responsibility until he gets well again. And if human blood will make him heal faster, I think we can all donate a little bit to him."

"What's that, Joyce? Donate blood? To Spike?" Giles had come up behind them quietly. Joyce explained again.

"Well, that's... that's terribly generous of you, but I think we ought to let each of the others decide for themselves."

"I've already decided, Rupert. Would you get me a paring knife and the turkey baster from the kitchen, please?"

Giles left the room muttering under his breath. "Feeding the bloody pollock, what will she think of next? Now I know where Buffy gets it from."

In the den, Willow, Tara and Dawn were doing what they could for Spike. They had washed off the worst of the blood that covered him when Joyce and Buffy entered behind Anya.

Xander stood to one side, watching them. "I still say this is a waste of time. We should just dust him."

Joyce gave the boy a scathing look. "You're in my house now, Alexander Harris, and I'll thank you to keep a civil tongue in your head. I told Buffy, and now I'm telling the rest of you. Since Spike got hurt helping Buffy, he's our responsibility until he's well." Turning towards Giles as he walked back in, she said, "Thank you, Rupert. I'll go first. You'll have to do it for me, I'm afraid," and Joyce held her hand over the bowl.

Willow looked puzzled. "What are you doing, Joyce?"

"Spike needs blood to heal. Rupert is going to cut my hand so that I'll bleed into the bowl. Then we'll feed my blood to Spike. I'd like it if each of you were to do the same. Especially you, Buffy. Giles has told me that a Slayer's blood is more powerful than ordinary human blood."

"What! I mean, what!? This is Spike! Evil, undead thing?" Xander was astonished that Buffy's mom would even suggest such a thing.

"Regardless of what he is or was, he just saved my daughter's life. I'm going to return the favor."

Dawn stood up and walked over to where her mother stood. "I'll be next. I don't mind Spike having some of my blood if he needs it. It's kinda like a transfusion, isn't it?"

Each of the girls volunteered without hesitation, except for Buffy. One at a time, Giles cut their hands slightly as they held them over the bowl. It looked at first as though he himself would refuse, but a glance around the room showed him that everyone else (well, ALMOST everyone) expected him to contribute to the growing red puddle. Before he could change his mind, Rupert cut his own hand, and let his blood join with the rest.

"Buffy? You should go ahead and donate some blood so that Rupert can take you to the hospital. From the way you're holding your left arm, I'd say it hurts more than you're letting on." Joyce was concerned. *But surely, if she was _really_ hurt, she'd have said so before now.*

Her daughter sighed. "All right, let's get this over with. The sooner he heals, the sooner he'll be out of the house." Holding her hand out to Giles, she didn't flinch when he cut her, and she let a good amount of her rich red blood flow into the bowl. "Will you drive me to the hospital now, Giles? I think my arm is broken."

"My god! Buffy, why didn't you say something sooner? Yes, yes, I'll take you straight away."

As Buffy and Giles left the house, Willow, Tara, and Anya all turned to look at Xander. Willow started. "Well, Xander? Are you going to give some blood for Spike?"

"Actually, Wil, I was thinking I would sit this one out."

Tara was next. "But he saved Buffy's life! Isn't that worth something?"

"Of course it is. It's just not worth my _blood_."

Anya threw her two cents in. "Xander, please! It'll show what a wonderful person you are."

Before Xander could reply, Dawn jumped in. "The Xander _I_ know would do it. Maybe you're just not who I thought you were." And she turned her back to him.

The dark-haired boy threw his hands up in the air. "All of you... ganging up on me... what's a guy to do?" He sighed. "OK, hand me the knife."

When Xander had contributed his share, all together there was about a cup and a half of blood in the bowl. Joyce carefully filled the baster from the blood, then motioned to Willow and Tara. "You girls need to help me get it down him. Just hold him steady. I don't want him to move and waste any of this."

The two girls held tightly to Spike's arms as Joyce slowly squeezed the baster, rubbing Spike's throat from time to time to make sure he was swallowing it properly.

"Xander, I would appreciate it if you and Anya could go by the butcher's tonight and get some more blood for our patient. Dawn, please go get me my wallet." Joyce glanced at Xander for a moment. "You'll probably need to pay for it."

* * * * * * * * * *

The next day, everyone met at the house on Revello Drive to discuss what had happened the night before.

Joyce met Willow and Tara at the front door. "You two will be glad to know that our efforts weren't in vain. Spike is awake, although he's still in a lot of pain." Buffy's mother led them into the living room.

Spike lay on the couch, and all the curtains were tightly closed to prevent sunlight from entering. Buffy sat nearby, her left arm in a cast. Giles, Xander, Anya, and Dawn were already present, scattered around the room.

Giles looked up as they entered the room. "Oh, good, you're here. Now we can get started. I think what everyone wants to know most is, where did Glory go, and how. Since it was your idea, Willow, I'll let you explain."

"First of all, I want everyone to know that I never would have thought of it without Spike's help." A murmur of sound ran around the room as the others made questioning noises. "He's the one who suggested keeping the Dagon Sphere close to Dawn, and told me that the Sphere could amplify spells. Spike also found out that Glory wasn't really a name, but just something her minions called her. Short for Your Gloriousness; kinda like calling somebody Maj instead of Your Majesty."

"I remembered that Giles said the Sphere repelled 'that which cannot be named'. Since Glory didn't really HAVE a name, and the Dagon Sphere showed up when she did, I kinda figured they were connected."

"Then Spike made a comment about sending Glory back where she belonged, I got Tara and Giles to help me alter the spell we used to send the troll back to the troll dimension, and POOF! No Glory, no morey." The redhead giggled at her own pun.

"OK, Wil, that explains where Glory went. But why did she turn into Ben? And more important: where does Spike come into this? WHY does Spike come into this?" Buffy was both puzzled and angry about Willow's actions.

"We didn't know she and Ben were connected, but Spike DID find out that Glory sometimes turned into a man. So we worked that into the spell we did, to make sure that both parts of her went away." Willow smiled, pleased with the way the things had turned out.

Dawn spoke up hesitantly. "I... I think... that time I ran away, and you found me at the hospital, I think Ben... turned into Glory. I think they were the same person."

"Turned into Glory?? You didn't say anything about it then, Dawn."

"Nooo. I didn't really remember. I think maybe Glory did something to make me forget." The teen looked miserably at her sister.

"It's OK, Dawn. Nobody blames you." Tara moved closer and put her arm around the young girl's shoulders. "None of us realized it either."

"OK, that takes care of Ben. What about Spike?" Buffy gestured at the silent vampire on the couch.

"OK, well, don't be mad, Buffy, but... After you told us what happened between you, Spike, and Drusilla, I was as mad as you were. But later, I got to thinking, that no one had given Spike a chance to tell his side of the story."

"You mean you didn't believe me," the blond Slayer said flatly.

"See, you're getting mad, and I didn't want you to get mad. I only wanted to be fair to both sides." Willow stared glumly at the floor. "So Tara and I went to see Spike."

Giles interrupted, "And of course, you could trust EVERY WORD that SPIKE said. You do remember how he caused trouble last year, don't you?"

"Of.. of course! That's why we cast a truth spell, first, so we could believe him, and he could believe us." The witch turned towards her best friend. "Buffy, we were just trying to help! I could see that it was bothering you, a LOT, and I just .. just wanted to find out the truth." Her voice trailed off uncertainly.

"And they found out that I was right," proclaimed Dawn. "Spike really does love you."

"And that's why he was going to let Drusilla kill me, right? Because he loves me?" Buffy said disdainfully.

"Remember what you said to me last night? You were mad at me because I wanted to help Spike, and you said you were going to kill me when your hand worked again."

"Dawn, you know I didn't mean it! You're my sister, I love you!"

"Spike loves YOU, and HE didn't mean it either. No diff!"

Giles sighed, took his glasses off, and rubbed his eyes. "I'm forced to admit, Buffy, that your sister does have a point. From time to time we all say things we don't really mean when those we love irritate us." *And Buffy can be _very_ irritating, even to her Watcher.*

"In my own defense," the till-now silent figure on the couch spoke up, "the Slayer had just asked me, in a nasty tone of voice, why she should CARE that I loved her. What was it to her?" He sighed. "So like some bloody idiot I threatened to let Dru kill her. But that's all it was, a bloody empty threat." Spike didn't look around to see if anyone believed him. He just kept his eyes shut so he wouldn't have to see the hatred on anyone's face - especially HERS.

Joyce asked, "Before we go any further with this, Willow, didn't you say you and Tara had a truth spell you can cast?" Willow nodded slowly. "Then why don't you two do that now, and then there won't be any doubt if someone is lying."

Giles quickly agreed, "Yes, that would probably be best. We can clear this up once and for all." His tone implied 'and then Spike can LEAVE once and for all'. "And please explain to us how this spell works."

"Well, everyone will be surrounded by a soft blue light to start. Telling the truth makes the blue light brighter; telling a lie or even thinking about telling a lie makes the light turn red. Deliberately holding back information will turn the light yellow. Kinda like a traffic light," Willow said with a glance at Spike, remembering that he had been the one to liken the spell to a traffic signal.

Tara and Willow quickly cast the truth spell once more. Everyone in the room began to glow with a soft blue light, with one exception - Buffy. The petite blond was lit up like a neon sign, surrounded by brilliant crimson light.

Giles lifted his eyebrows and looked at Willow. "I thought everyone was to be surrounded in blue first?"

Willow shrugged her shoulders. "Our psychology professor would probably say that Buffy is having denial issues. I don't really know, it worked on everybody else. Let me test it. Xander, lie to me. How old are you?"

With a grin, Xander replied, "75. But I look young for my age." The light around him had promptly turned red, then back to blue when he finished speaking.

"OK. Buffy, how old are you?"

"20." The Slayer's answer was short and sullen. "And I want Spike OUT of my house." The light around her turned blue while she stated her age, then quickly went back to bright crimson.

Willow looked at Giles and shrugged again. "I don't know."

"Very well, then. We will ignore it for the time being. Spike, I believe you should start."

The blond vampire sat up slightly. "All right, then." He went over the events again - Dru's return - the trip to the Bronze - his feeding from the dead girl, and why - finding Buffy at the crypt - Dru using the cattle prod on her - knocking Dru out - tying up Dru, chaining Buffy - telling Buffy he loved her - his offer to prove his love by staking Dru - Buffy's response - the fight with Harmony - Drusilla getting loose and attacking Buffy - pushing Dru away and freeing Buffy - Buffy punching him - following Buffy home, only to find out he'd been uninvited.

When he'd finished, everyone was quiet for a moment.

"And why exactly did you say you chained Buffy up?" queried Giles.

"Well, if one of you want to talk to her, and she doesn't want to listen, you lot can grab her by the arm to stop her from leaving. I don't have that option, this bloody chip in my head won't let me. I chained the Slayer up so that she'd have to stay put while I was talking to her, that's all. I wasn't going to hurt her. I COULDN'T hurt her." (then softly) "I can't even let someone else hurt her."

"What's that? Someone else? What are you talking about, Spike?"

"Remember when witch-girl over there did the spell to keep you lot from seeing demons? The Slayer was trying to fight one of the Lei-ach demons in the training room, but she couldn't see the other one behind her. I went there to watch the fun, but... I couldn't help m'self. I took the second one down when it was going to attack her. Chopped it to bits. I bloody... _protected_ her."

Xander spoke up. "I hate to say this, but... when we were cleaning up the shop afterwards, there _were_ demon bits in the training room. We thought that Buffy..."

"No. I couldn't see it to hit it with anything." Once again, the light turned briefly blue as Buffy spoke.

"What about the wall that had all the pictures of Buffy on it? What was that all about?" Anya asked next.

Surprisingly, Dawn broke in before Spike could answer. "That? That's just one of those things we do when we like someone. Buffy had pictures of Riley up - until he left. And I always put up pictures of people that I really, really like, like the Backstreet Boys or Jason Behr on 'Roswell'.

"And, and Willow and I had a Jonathan picture wall. You know, when he did that spell to make us all like him?" Tara blushed slightly as the others looked at her.

Joyce gently prompted, "Spike?"

"Like the others said, Joyce. I loved her, and I... wanted to be able to... 'ave part of her around. I didn't really think I had much of a chance with 'er, but a fella's gotta try. I know I'm saying this badly, but... I've only been in love the once before. I don't 'ave much experience at it." From the tone of his voice, if Spike could have blushed, he would have.

"Buffy? Honey, you're not saying anything. Now that you KNOW that Spike loves you, how do you feel?"

She shrugged. "Same as before, Mom. Like I _really_ don't like Spike and I _really_ wish he weren't here." The crimson light surrounding her never even flickered.

Giles sighed once again. *This must be part of my punishment for being Ripper in my youth.* "Buffy, I think it's fairly obvious to everyone here that, regardless of how WE feel, you do not - dislike - Spike as much as you say you do. I think that it's time that you were honest with us, and with yourself."

Xander chimed in, "Yeah, Buff, you can lie to your friends, you can lie to your family, and you can even lie to yourself - but you can't lie to Willow's truth spell."

As she listened to Xander, Buffy felt that odd echo effect again. *I can fool Giles, and I can fool my friends, but I can't fool myself. Or Spike, for some reason.* The words she had used to tell Angel that she couldn't see him anymore. *That last sentence - All along Spike has been telling me, in various ways, that he knows me like no one else does. For some weird reason, like no one else can.*

"The truth? The truth is - Spike and I are not friends. We'll never be friends." The glow around her turned blue while she spoke.

Spike looked sharply at her. He remembered when he'd told her that about her and Angel. He remembered what else he'd said, too. *You'll fight, and you'll shag, and you'll hate each other till it makes you quiver, but you'll _never_ be friends.* Could this mean...he might have that chance after all? "Well, if we're not friends, pet, then what are we? Enemies? Allies? Inquiring minds want to know."

"We're not... exactly.... enemies, either. Or I would have killed you a long time ago." The aura of light turned green.

"Buffy," reminded her best friend, "Everyone can SEE whether you're being truthful or not. That green light means you're only telling _part_ of the truth. You're still holding back."

"But he's a demon! I can't just love an evil, undead killer vampire without a soul!" The light flared red once more.

Tara looked at her thoughtfully. "Buffy, when my family wanted to take me away, you stood up for me - and you thought _I_ was a demon. You didn't even know what kind, I could have been some... some terrible horrible monster. And the spell I did... I almost... almost killed you all."

Joyce gave her daughter one of those "we'll talk about this later" looks when she heard 'almost killed', but didn't say anything.

"That was different! You and Willow were obviously in love."

"Oh? I thought you told me that demons can't love! It must be just ME that don't 'ave any feelings, is that it?" Spike glared at the Slayer from where he lay.

"Nonsense, Spike. Buffy knows that demons have feelings. I'm an ex-demon, her first roommate at college was a demon, Cordelia and that half-demon in L.A. were in love - well, before he died." Anya turned to Buffy. "How could you POSSIBLY think that Spike doesn't have feelings?"

Xander murmured to his girlfriend, "Enough, Anya. I think you got your point across."

Dawn decided it was her turn again. "Look, sis, you had to know _something_ was up. You told me about the times you found Spike outside watching the house, and the time he came in when that thing - the Queller - attacked Mom. And when I ran away, Willow told me that you paired off with Spike to look for me. I mean, what's that about? If you didn't like him, why would you want him with you to search.? It's not like he could hurt any of the others. And the day I was hanging out at his crypt, where's the first place you came? Where's the first place you always seem to go, when you need help with something?"

Dawn's words continued, but Buffy didn't hear them anymore. She hid her face in her hands as her sister rattled on. *And there was the time I didn't tell her about - the time when Spike showed up in my bedroom with 'something to show me'. Not going there, Summers, not now. It's true - I've always turned to Spike. Oh, god, it's true.*

In a strangled voice, she said, "You're right."

Dawn stopped in mid-sentence, "... and if you wanted him gone, you could've STAKED him instead of un-inviting him... What did you say?"

The blond lifted her head. "I said, you're right. I DID know that Spike was - interested - in me. But I thought - hoped - that I was imagining things. I was trying to have a _normal_ life" *Or at least as normal as life gets on the Hellmouth* "with a _normal_ boyfriend. The kind of life I've always wanted." *The kind of life Angel wanted me to have.* "The Slayer and a vampire - it isn't exactly normal."

"Neither are you, Buffy. Not only are you the Slayer, but... you are certainly not average or normal even _for_ a Slayer. None of the other Slayers have done as much good as you have done. That's one of the reasons that the Council wanted you back." Giles spoke to his Slayer gently, as the light around her fluctuated back and forth between blue, purple, green. The girl was generating a rainbow all by herself.

"Buffy, what are YOUR feelings for SPIKE? You're going way around the block to avoid the house next door, if you know what I mean. It's not like you'd be having the only 'unusual' relationship around, you know." Willow glanced at her lover, then at Xander and Anya. "Nope, in this bunch, unusual _is_ normal. And you did want to be normal, right?"

Everyone in the room laughed at that, even Buffy.

"You're right there, Wil." She sighed. "All right, I admit that... I have some interest in having a relationship with Spike." Her aura turned blue and stayed that way this time as she continued. "I even mentioned to Riley once, that... if I wanted someone to be with who was as strong as me.... I'd be dating Spike."

At this admission, Spike sat up partway and, with some difficulty, kept from smiling. *She actually said that?! And to Captain Cardboard, at that. Well, well...*

"I'm...not sure what it is I feel for Spike. We're not friends, we're not enemies, and we're more than allies. But... it's too soon. I mean, I want to be sure. Sure that it's not just because... Riley's gone, and I'm lonely - sometimes - and Spike is handy."

The blond vampire spoke gently. "Tha's all I was asking for, pet. Just the chance.... If I have a chance, I can wait until you're ready." He lay back down.

"And nobody is goin' to stake me by 'mistake', right?" He looked hard at Giles and Xander as he spoke. Those two had been the most vocal in his condemnation, most especially the Watcher.

"Right, not as long as Buffy says not." replied Xander.

"Very well, if that's what _Buffy_ wants." Her Watcher spoke in a long-suffering tone. "And as long as you work on _our_ side, not against us."

"My word on it, Rupert." Spike grinned as he heard the other man mutter "Bloody pillock!" under his breath. "Now, Red, if you two will just cancel this light show, we can all be about our business. There must be _something_ to do now that Glory's gone."

Willow giggled, but canceled the spell. "Yeah, I think we _might_ have other things to do. Classes. Jobs. Other unimportant things."

As the others left, Spike asked Buffy, "So.. Does that mean you won't kick me out of the house at least until I'm better, then?"

"Oh, I think I can promise you THAT much, at least." Buffy grinned at him, and kissed him lightly on the mouth as she left, too. *Strange how admitting that I have GOOD feelings for Spike has made me feel... better. Lighter. Like I'm not carrying the weight of the world by myself anymore.*

Spike called out behind her, "A little more encouragement like that, and I'll be up and around in no time."

 

The End


End file.
